Speed is an important factor for any successful emergency response: Next time, to outsmart the virus, we need to act fast through quick deployment of equipment, specialists and field hospitals. Speed will play a critical role in writing a different story for the first hundred days - in Africa or elsewhere.

As the Ebola crisis in West Africa begins to ease, there is equal cause for hope and fear. The news that infections have slowed to fewer than 100 new cases per week is cause for optimism. But as the fight against Ebola moves into this next stage, there is still so much work to be done.

The Ebola crisis in West Africa has shown what happens when local health systems lack the resilience to respond to shocks. Acute shortages of health workers, poor infrastructure, and lack of trust in health systems have allowed the epidemic to spread rapidly and cost many lives.

Anything that raises money for charity is great, and I am fully behind sending relief money to help the Ebola crisis that is happening in West Africa. Nevertheless, like many others, aspects of the new Band Aid 30 single make me feel uncomfortable with regards to its portrayal of West Africa and West Africans.

The world is facing a water and sanitation crisis, with 2.5 billion people on our planet lacking access to a basic toilet. The global health and economic costs are huge. However, the crisis can be addressed, and there is an important and growing role for private enterprise.

As media crews begin to arrive in West Africa, we are urging for there to be no repeat of the Michael Burke film. It was vital and needed at its time, but today, 30 years later, a very different part of the continent may need our help, but the bravery of its first responders also deserves our respect.

Ebola presents an unprecedented threat to Sierra Leone and other countries in West Africa, not just in terms of public health but also because of the outbreak's long-term social and economic impacts. The UK has taken the global lead in supporting the response and has committed significant resources. This recognises Britain's long standing links with Sierra Leone and ActionAid welcomes and fully supports this.

Aside from the clear humanitarian responsibilities of providing aid and support, a lack of a functioning health system in impoverished regions such as West Africa, will one day allow a more transmissible pathogen to run rampant, which would eventually see us having to step over corpses on our doorsteps. But for now, rest assured, we are not all careering towards a bloody, excrement covered date with our maker.

Only one-quarter of the $1 billion that U.N. agencies have appealed for to tackle Ebola has been funded. In the context of this fast moving crisis, this exposes the lack of genuine commitment to deal with the situation in West Africa that is threatening to become a global crisis.

The US and UK have recently made the largest efforts in terms of military deployments and money but many other states are still neglecting their responsibilities. Justine Greening, the International Development Secretary, and David Cameron have noted that EU members such as Italy and Spain need to step forward with resources and act now.

Ideological positions and poor understandings have created a set of assumptions about development that are fundamentally challenged by the Ebola experience. Can this terrible crisis provide a moment for reframing development? Surely now is the time for a fundamental rethink of development approaches.